A strange creature was washed ashore at Nakodu Village, Koro, in the Lomaiviti province last Wednesday.

According to Semi Nakovu, this strange creature was found dead. He said the creature had eight tentacles, a tail, the skin of an iguana and hair on its body.

It looked heavy, but didn’t have any bones, he added.

A senior villager had cut off the tail of the creature, which had white flesh.

It was lying there for days until the villagers burned it.

Island Beat had informed the Marine Biology department at the University of the South Pacific about the creature, hoping for more information.

Unfortunately, Laura Williams, who is the Laboratory Technician for the School of Marine Studies, said they needed more details in order to identify the creature.

Ms Williams said to even make a general identification they would need photos from different angles and details such as:

• Size;
• Scale of the photo;
• Is the specimen hard or soft? (ie, shell, bone, or flesh);
• Does it have a head/eyes or tail?; and
• Any markings on surface?

She said they could not identify it with just the photo sent to them.

Questions sent to the Head of Marine Biology at the Fiji National University were not answered when this edition went to press last night.

Edited by Percy Kean

Feedback: maikab@fijisun.com.fj